A Study of the Relationship between Internship Teaching Performance and Academic Grades for COP Students.

Shaw, Thomas L.

The major purpose of this study was to determine if a functional relationship existed between internship teaching performance and academic grades for Career Opportunities Program trainees who interned in three local education agency schools and attended three cooperating institutions of higher education in Alabama. Another aim of the study was to determine if there were functional relationships among internship teaching performance and self-concept or academic grades and self-concept. The Pearson product-moment coefficent of correlation was used to determine relationships. The correlation coefficent between internship teaching performance and academic grades was not significant. The data for COP trainees in one school system indicating the relationship between internship teaching performance and self-concept (as revealed by Edward's fifteen personality variables) showed abasement to be significant. The data for trainees in the second school system indicated the relationship between internship and teaching performance and self-concept to be not significant. The data further indicated the relationship between academic grades and self-concept to be not significant. For the third group of trainees, the data showed the relationship between internship teaching performance and self-concept to be not significant excepting heterosexuality. The data further revealed the relationship between grade-point average and self-concept to be not significant excepting abasement and achievement. The data collected in this investigation sustained the hypothesis that there is no relationship between internship teaching performance and academic grades, and rejected the five variables of the hypothesis that there is no relationship between internship teaching performance and self-concept or academic grades and self-concept. (MM)